was the effect on the Catholic Church,
which had once claimed two-thirds of Hun
gary's people as communicants?
IN THE PALACE OF the cardinal pri
mate, I talked with Father Pal Csefal
vay, director of the museum. He said
there were no statistics on church mem
bership; answers could not be precise.
"Religious commitment is growing a bit
stronger in urban areas; materialistic trends
are stronger in the rural areas than they used
to be." Here there was an adequate number
of candidates for the seminary.
As for government policy: "The first sec
retary, Janos Kidir, said he is not bothered
if someone goes to church in his free time, or
goes to see a soccer match in his free time; the
important matter is that someone should
work well after doing so."
The church runs eight secondary schools
in Hungary, six for boys, two for girls.
"They are not free, and so the parents bear
an extra burden. As for the state primary
schools, it is not forbidden to have religious
instructions if the parents so wish. The in
struction may be in the morning before the
first class, or after the last. In some places,
very many students attend these instruc
tions; in other places, not so many."
The priest saw a positive sign in this ar
rangement. "It is not explicitly stated, but
there is an implication in this that makes us
feel that we are somehow urged to go on with
our religious instructions, to put a good im
pact on the children in schools, to have them
under a good influence."
But there was a ghost in this place, the
ghost of a man who once dwelt here, J6zsef
Cardinal Mindszenty. His bitter resistance
to Communism had made him a martyr. He
died in exile in Vienna in 1975.
"For sure he had some good qualities," the
priest said. "He was very strongly protecting
the rights of the church, but he also tried to
defend political positions that did not exist
any longer. He did not recognize a republic;
he called himself prince primate, a title from
the Habsburg kings; and he thought of him
self as the foremost 'baron' of the country.
"He expected everybody to become a mar
tyr like himself. But it was not naturally de
sired by everyone, nor by the political
situation, nor by (Continuedon page248)
Do-it-yourself house building is a
common pastime in Hungary, both in
suburbanneighborhoods(above) and
in the countryside. Privateconstruction
in 1982 accountedfor 60 percent of the
nation's new housing, includinghomes
built by contractorsand apartments
put up by construction cooperatives.
In the village of Szigliget,family and
friends of Bela Kovdcs (right)pass
building blocks hand to hand. It will
take the Kovdcs family more than two
years to finish the new house, which
will stand next to that of Bdla's mother.
NationalGeographic, February1983
240